Petal & Pins

Category: travel

March 4, 2020

Budding Genius

While autumn has begun here in Australia I’ve channeled  spring vibes for this photo with my copy of British Vogue’s Spring Fashion 2020 issue.

As a fashion design student long before the age of internet, the arrival of the latest issues of international fashion magazines on the newsstand was cause for excitement. Vogues from France, Italy, the US and UK, Harpers Bazaar, Donna and the then new edgy publications ID, The Face and Details.

If you knew someone going overseas you would ask them to bring magazines back because that ‘Air Freight – Just Landed’ sticker wasn’t as quick as it implied and as a student imported magazines were expensive.

Of course now the latest collections can be seen in an instant on a device in the palm of your hand…but there’s something intrinsically enjoyable about flipping through the pages of a magazine – it makes you slow down and encourages you to take a moment for yourself (maybe with a cup of tea or a glass of wine) and aimlessly flipping or working your way through it from cover to cover depending on the mood you’re in.

In my styled spring Flat Lay are roses from my garden, petal & pins Blush Rose greeting card from the Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe Collection, Vintage Rose handkerchief and some of my favourite accessories.

 

Last European spring I was delighted to have my Aquilegia & Rose Dress art print featured in UK Bride magazine’s The Pretty List after the editors saw us exhibiting at the Top Drawer London tradeshow.

Alas my efforts to track down a physical copy came up empty handed but at least I have this digital image to share because it was a proud moment to be included alongside so many pretty floral things…and being called ‘Budding genius’ no less!

 

 

Leave a comment
June 11, 2019

Garden Cameo

We recently swapped our Australian Autumn for a bit of New York Spring. That required hopping on three planes and over 24 hours of travelling time from walking out our front door to reaching our destination!

The antidote to jet lag and such a long journey? Wandering around the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

This ‘cameo’ view is in the Cranford Rose Garden which first opened in 1928. It has one of the largest collections in North America, over a thousand kinds of roses are cultivated.

Although we were too early for the roses to be blooming we were there at the perfect time for the Japanese tree peonies and the bluebell wood in all its glory – a beautiful and gentle start to a whirlwind ten days of sightseeing, trade show exhibiting and catching up with friends!

Leave a comment
February 25, 2019

Ripples On Water

I’m a little late with my first blog post for 2019, our January trip to exhibit at Top Drawer London S/S had us on the go from day one.

But as February starts to disappear the beginning of a new week has spurred me to dive back in and what better inspiration for a post than participating in Cathy from Rambling in the Garden’s In A Vase On Monday!

I have a small clump of Amaryllis belladonna growing in my garden but this big bunch I was given by my neighbour.

These lillies are a bit ‘now you see me now you don’t’  – with warmer than average weather this summer and everything looking a bit dry and a little jaded, suddenly in gardens and paddocks up pop the ‘naked ladies’, prettiness that belies hardiness.

After using some to design a lily dress for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe I have arranged the rest with white agapanthus, some branches from a deeper pink flowering shrub and some greenery.

This time last year we were excitedly planning our trip to Japan and on the weekend we finally hung the beautiful drawings we bought at the Oedo Antique Market in Tokyo.They are actually technical drawings – designs for obi, the sash worn with a kimono. The market seller had a large pile of them with other trinkets laid out on a cloth. I hovered rather impatiently as someone before me went through cherry picking a lot of the most beautiful ones!

Of the two we chose I had thought the other one – a lush arrangement of peonies and chrysanthemums was my favourite but now hung, one each side of the fireplace, the simplicity and serenity of this one beckons me to pause, imagine myself on a river bank, glance through the over hanging branches and watch the ripples dancing on the surface of the water.

 

6 Comments
August 28, 2018

Scribbled

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

One of the things I love about stepping out in a big city is the fabulous window dressing you see.

When I was in Tokyo this mens shoe store display caught my eye, it’s deceptively simple but carefully and artfully arranged.

The suspended writing (a play on pinstripes?) gives a sense of movement and the nonchalant lean of the umbrella is positioned just so that you can almost sense an imaginary hand resting on the handle.

I photographed a Melbourne window display back in 2014 that also used script in a clever way, appearing in reverse you needed to look at the shadow to read it.

Anyone care to have a go at deciphering what the scribbly man says?!

 

 

2 Comments
July 2, 2018

Swept Away

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I’ve been procrastinating writing about our trip to Japan – where to start? A place of contrasts and beauty couldn’t be contained in one post.

There is intricacy and simplicity.

A riot of colour and then a tonal quietness.

This morning I decide to start with the leaf sweepers at Meiji-jingū, Tokyo’s largest and most famous Shintō shrine. The sprawling forested grounds contain some 120,000 trees collected from all over Japan.

I was facinated by the simplicity and make shift look of the brooms, they reminded me of the ones I’d seen street sweepers using in Venice, Italy.

They obviously do the job they’re designed for well – perhaps a reminder that sometimes we can over complicate things.

Besides they have such charm don’t you think!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Here is a link for making a Japanese broom for sweeping your own cobblestones, gravel path or moss garden.

http://japanesegardening.org/reference/bamboo_broom.html

 

3 Comments
June 5, 2018

The Inbetween

horizon

There is always a moment on a long haul flight that I like to just gaze out the window and get lost in my thoughts.

It’s the inbetween, when I’m hours from my departure city and still a way from touching down at my destination.

If it’s on the way to somewhere as opposed to heading home it’s laden with anticipation of new experiences and inspiration.

This was that inbetween moment on our way to Japan in May.

Leave a comment
Image | May 1, 2018
petal & pins Mothers Day card and Perle d'Or card

 

Leave a comment
December 20, 2017

Seasonal

In November Mr Petal & Pins and I headed to Adelaide to do our 4th Bowerbird Design Market.

We love this event for all sorts of reasons – and although it’s work it’s also lots of fun, although not so much the 4am start to catch our flights (2) to get to Adelaide in time to set up!

We get to share our story and products directly to consumers and chat with other designers and makers from all around the country running creative businesses just like us.

And then there is the food…our favourite this time was from The Seasonal Garden Cafe. Their endeavour is to celebrate seasonal produce serving simple, peasant food that is guided by what is available from their cafe garden and from the gardens of local growers – and they certainly delivered that in a very delicous way!

Equally impressive was their stand display so I took some photos to share with you.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

1 Comment
November 17, 2017

Sunday’s Garden

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

On a recent trip to Melbourne we went back to Heide – this time with friends, picnic supplies, and time to linger.

These are a few of the photos I took of the Heide II kitchen garden in which Sunday Reed worked daily until just before her death in 1981. It’s a beautiful serene garden so I can imagine the joy of being in it daily – despite the sign warning to be aware of snakes!

 

 

2 Comments
September 28, 2017

Bewitched

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Last weekend we headed to Launceston to participate in the Blooming Tasmania Flower & Garden Festival and it was a chance to also wander around City Park and to see the Spring display inside the John Hart Conservatory (I shared the Autum display back in May)

Outside in the park the Rhododendron were particularly spectacular but in the conservatory it was the Witch Hazel that caught my eye!

I’m tempted to find a spot in my garden for it as the sprays of pink fringed flowers would be very pretty in a vase and a welcome sight in the garden at the end of winter.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

In doing a little online research on Witch Hazel varieties I think I actually may have a yellow one in my garden – I also discovered there is  a hybrid variety – Hamamelis vernalis called Sandra!

4 Comments
%d bloggers like this: